Accustomed to accompanying many musicians such as Patrick Watson and Elisapie on stage and in the studio, Joe Grass releases his fourth solo album. hawk heart. For the 41-year-old musician from Moncton, who has lived in Montreal since 2001, it doesn’t matter if he’s in the limelight or not. “I like to focus on the music every day,” he says.
Anyone who follows Montreal’s music scene at all will see the name Joe Grass floating around very often. For twenty years, the musician has worked with several prominent artists, including Lhasa de Sela, the Barr Brothers, Marie-Pierre Arthur and Fred Fortin.
But even though Falcon’s Heart is his fourth solo album, the name Joe Grass remains relatively unknown to the general public. And the main prospect doesn’t really take it amiss.
“When I draw more attention to myself, it means more people are in my spaces [quand il partira en tournée], it’s better this way. It’s always fun to walk around and meet people. I love socializing with people. »
Americana roots
Joe Grass is busy with other artists’ projects and has been putting off releasing a new album for years (his previous record, The Rest Will Disappear, was in 2016). But the outbreak of the pandemic suddenly gave her more time to work on her own songs.
Photo courtesy of Frédérique Bérubé
The Falcon’s Heart Album
“I like writing, whether it’s for myself or for others, and I often have ideas that don’t go anywhere,” he says.
Although his music can generally be described as folk, Joe Grass refuses to limit himself to a single genre of music. He himself admits that he likes experimental music more.
He returned to his Americana and country roots for Falcon’s Heart. American songwriter John Prine was a big influence, he says.
Joe Grass was very inspired and wrote “about 40 to 50 songs” for this project.
“I wanted to have a collection of songs that I’m happy with,” he says.
studio visit
Although he mainly worked solo, Joe Grass was visited in the studio by some musician friends. François Lafontaine, with whom he collaborated on the Klaus project in 2018, came in particular to take over some keyboard sections. Percussionist Robbie Kuster contributed, as did Erika Angell on vocals.
Joe Grass dubbed his album simply “Falcon’s Heart” because “that song was sort of the heart and it fit the feel of the album, it was spiritual.”
The musician wants to go on tour with this album in autumn. Until then, he will be working on many other projects, including for the company Moment Factory.
“I composed the music for one of their lumina,” he says of these illuminated nocturnal journeys. “I feel lucky to be able to work on creative music projects,” he says. There are always new challenges. I grow every time »
The Joe Grass Album, hawk heart, for sale. He will perform at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 4th. For info: joegrass.com.